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The Vator Splash Oakland event on May 6-7 on the Oakland waterfront keeps getting better!
Vator Splash Oakland has added Oakland native and three-time Grammy winner, and tech-savvy entrepreneur MC Hammer as a keynote speaker on May 6, the first day of the two-day tech and business education conference to be held at Jack London Square. MC Hammer’s Fireside Keynote with Erik Moore, an early investor in Zappos and founder of BaseVC follows a Fireside Keynote interview with entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist Mitch Kapor, who will be interviewed by Bambi Francisco, Vator Founder & CEO.
As a Vator Splash partner, we can offer our community discount tickets. Use “SPONSOR CODE” to register for general admission tickets here.
Chief Financial Officer (Advisor) Luis Buhler is the Principle/CFO of Rockledge Associates. He has served as Chief Financial Officer for three Silicon Valley high tech companies. At Simplex Solutions, he helped grow the company from $6 million to $50 million of annual revenue. He helped complete a successful IPO, 3 corporate acquisitions, a major industry partnership and ultimately, the acquisition of the company by Cadence Design Systems for $300 million. As CFO at Latitude Communications, he helped engineer a turnaround strategy that resulted in the company’s acquisition by Cisco Systems for $80 million. At FirstRain, Inc. he reorganized US and overseas financial operations and helped execute three successful venture financing rounds totaling more than $40 million. Luis also worked as VP and Treasurer for Trans Ocean Ltd, where he completed a $75 million IPO of subordinated debt as well as hundreds of millions of dollars of debt, lease, and investor financing for the acquisition of capital equipment. Luis’ background includes substantial international experience in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Luis also served as Deputy Secretary of the California Trade and Commerce Agency and acting executive director of the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank where he helped issue $6 billion of AAA rated bonds financed by cash flows from public utility ratepayers. Luis earned an MBA and BA from Stanford University and an MA from Occidental College. He was a recipient of a Coro Foundation Fellowship and currently serves as Board Chair of the Coro Center for Civic Leadership in San Francisco.
Emerging Business & Nonprofits (Advisor)
Darian Rodriguez Heyman has a history of building businesses and creating community. After five years of service, Darian recently stepped down as Executive Director of Craigslist Foundation, an organization dedicated to educating, empowering, and connecting emerging nonprofit leaders.
Everyone I know with an iPhone is constantly complaining about running out of juice. I’m no exception. I finally threw in the towel and decided to get a removable battery case, so I can extend the life of my phone.

I read a number of online reviews, and the ibattz Mojo REFUEL and REFUEL ARMOR Removable Battery Cases came highly recommend, so I thought I’d start with them. I’m happy to say that they lived up to my expectations. The design is solid, and the battery case is light and slim. Taking the case on and off is a breeze. ibattz also improved Mojo’s battery, replacing last year’s 1700mAh replaceable batteries with 2200mAh batteries.
By Martina Lauchengco & Anamaria Nino-Murcia
Backblaze blew through a million dollars failing their way into niche markets. Before they were acquired by LinkedIn, IndexTank spent $10,000 a month on PR that got them no press. When they first started, Lark invested $200,000 in “brand-building activities,” but couldn’t measure its ROI. These startups succeeded despite their expensive marketing mistakes but most don’t.
How can so many tech startups spend a ton on marketing and get so little for it?
I’ve worked for start-ups throughout my career and founded two of my own. However, I still decided to join The Founders Space accelerator program las October.
Being a start-up in 2014 is quite different from a startup a few years earlier. The market is changing so fast. It is as fast as the technology, the ideas, the new ventures, the competitive landscape, and last, but not least, the investment. The Founders Space helped us to catch up with the latests.
We’ve learned invaluable lessons of self-assessment on our business model, market positioning, and therefore, made ourselves clear on directions and focus.






